174 ' |Januai7, 



right, either with a pinch of the fingers, or with the cyanide, they 

 often come to life again, and if in papers damage themselves a good 

 deal ; large, thin-bodied species, however {HeJiconidis, Morphidae, and 

 most, but not all of the PapilionidcB), die readily enough, and may, 

 like dragon-flies, be carried home in the papers ; but Sesperidco, 

 CastnicB, and all thick-bodied species, are very much better carried in 

 the field in the corked boxes, and put into paper on arrival at head 

 quarters. 



All Hymenopttra, Diptera, stout-bodied moths, many Orthoptera, 

 the larger Somoptera, &c., I killed with the cyandide and plaster 

 bottle, and pinned immediately after capture. I mounted on card, and 

 pinned, if possible, before sending to England, types of all my 

 Coleoptera and Hemiptera, ])acking the remainder away in pine saw- 

 dust, with a little spirit and carbolic acid ; green Orthoptera, Capsidce, 

 many Homoptera, and many of the pubescent longicorns, do not 

 improve in sawdust ; they should be pinned, if possible, or, failing 

 room, they can be sent dry, in papers, like the butterflies, thin-bodied 

 moths, Neuroptera, &c. 



In the long (seven or eight months) rainy season, it is only with 

 the greatest difiiculty possible to keep one's collections from going 

 mouldy ; a drying cage is of little use, unless you have a tin case to 

 put it into immediately the afternoon rain commences, and can so 

 suspend it as to keep out ants, small undeveloped Blattce, &c. (I must 

 say I could seldom manage to successfully keep out these pests 

 myself) ; store boxes corked on one side only, and not fitting too 

 closely are, perhaps, better than tight fitting ones (have nothing to do 

 with varnished or painted boxes), and tin boxes fcr insect papers, and 

 wide-mouthed bottles or tins for insects in sawdust; plenty of creosote, 

 naphthaline, camphor, or similar substance, must be used for ants, &c , 

 otherwise, you will speedily lose your captures. Whiie mounting 

 beetles, &c., indoors, the ants have often carried off my captures 

 absolutely under my very nose; in the "tierracaliente," or hot country, 

 you can scarcely put a box down on the table for these pests, even for 

 a few minutes ; often I have come in wet or tired from an entomolo- 

 gical expedition, and put my collecting boxes down for a short time 

 while changing my clothes, &.c., only to find on opening them shortly 

 afterwards that hundreds of ants had already commenced devouring 

 my captur'^s. I generally used store-boxes for drying all my pinned 

 insects (the drying cage not answering satisfactorily), getting them 

 out in the sun, of course not letting the diz'ect rays fall on the insects, 

 for a short time in the mornings during the rainy season. Carbolic 



